Elton John: Madonna's career is over

Elton John has re-ignited his feud with Madonna, telling Australian TV her career is over and that she resembles a fairground stripper.

Sir Elton didn't hold back during his profanity-laced interview on the Australian programme Sunday Night with his old friend Molly Meldrum. The Daily Mail says the 65-year old is furious with the singer, who he says has been "horrible" to Lady Gaga, godmother to his and partner David Furnish's 19 month old son Zachary.

He says Madonna has no right to criticise other artists, saying, "She's such a nightmare. Sorry, her career is over. Her tour has been a disaster and it couldn't happen to a bigger ****. If Madonna had any common sense she would have made a record like Ray of Light and stayed away from the dance stuff and just been a great pop singer and make great pop records, which she does brilliantly. But no, she had to go and prove ... she looks like a f***ing fairground stripper. She's been so horrible to Gaga."

He seemed particularly upset when Madge pointed to similarities between Gaga's hit Born This Way and her own 1989 hit Express Yourself, at the start of her tour in Israel. At the time she said, "I thought, 'What a wonderful way to redo my song.' I mean, I recognised the chord changes. I thought it was ... interesting."

Elton is about to launch his own world tour in September to mark the 40th anniversary of the release of his single Rocket Man.

The feud was on when Madonna's directorial debut film W.E. beat out Elton's animated film Gnomeo and Juliet, to win a Golden Globe award in January. His partner David Furnish wrote on Facebook, "Madonna. Best song???? F**k off!!! Madonna winning Best Original Song truly shows how these awards have nothing to do with merit. Her acceptance speech was embarrassing in its narcissism. And her criticism of Gaga shows how desperate she really is."

A couple of months later, Elton stepped in suggesting the Queen of Pop wouldn't be singing live at the Super Bowl, saying she should "lip-sync good" for her half-time performance.